


one day like this

by somehowunbroken



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 02:58:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8951176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somehowunbroken/pseuds/somehowunbroken
Summary: Noah didn't realise Charlie sometimes babysat for his neighbors. It's a bit of an awakening for both of them, honestly.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [maleyka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/maleyka/gifts).



> hi, maleyka! this is one of the treat fics i wrote you for hockey hols. there's a longer fic and another treat fic for you as well, because i couldn't resist writing some of my favorite rarepairs! i hope you enjoy your fics, and happy holidays :)
> 
> thanks to S., D., and A. for beta reading/cheerleading. title is from ["one day like this" by elbow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NFV8dHrZYM). it's cute, that's why.

_hey i'm here! comin up_

Noah waits for a minute, but Charlie doesn't reply. It's not super uncommon; Charlie's the kind of guy who will leave his phone on the kitchen counter after texting someone and totally forget it exists at all from time to time, so not getting an immediate text back doesn't mean anything.

_got ur apples,_ Noah texts as he gets out of his car. He grabs the bag and heads for the entrance to Charlie's building, slipping his phone into his pocket as he goes. Last week he'd been on an almond kick; apparently this week it's apples.

"Hey," Noah calls out when he gets to Charlie's door. Mid-summer in Boston is hot and humid, and Noah really wants to get inside as soon as possible. His shirt is already sticking to him as he knocks on Charlie's door. "Charlie? You fall asleep?"

There's a noise from inside, not quite someone shrieking, but definitely not a noise that generally comes from Charlie's apartment. It's weird, so Noah digs his key ring from his pocket and lets himself in, looking around.

"Hey, hey, Layla," Charlie says. His voice is coming from deeper in the apartment, and he sounds like he's trying to calm down a spooked horse. Or so Noah assumes; he's never actually _met_ a spooked horse. "Noah's gonna be here soon, okay? And he's bringing you apples!"

There's another shriek, then a thoughtful pause. Noah walks towards the spare bedroom; it sounds like Charlie and whoever Layla is are in there.

"I love apples," an impossibly high, small voice says, and Noah stops short in the hall. "And I love you!"

Charlie laughs. "I love you too, kitten."

"Who's Noah?" the little girl—Layla— asks.

"Noah's a very special person," Charlie says, voice going soft. "You're gonna love him, too."

"Yay!" Layla cheers. There's a moment of quiet, then a little giggle, and then there's a crashing noise and a tiny body running from the bedroom.

"Hey, whoa," Noah says. He takes a step back and crouches, scooping Layla up with the ease of two younger siblings' worth of practice.

She's probably somewhere between three and four, natural hair escaping out from under the princess tiara that goes with the bright blue Elsa dress she's wearing. She's studying him intently, big brown eyes regarding him with all the seriousness someone that age can muster.

Noah chances a smile at her. "Hi, Layla."

Her expression doesn't change at all. "You're very pretty," she informs him solemnly. "Are you Noah?"

Before he can answer, she twists a little in his arms. "Charlie," she says, and Noah turns to see Charlie looking at him and Layla, a completely stunned expression on his face. "I think this is Noah. He's _very_ pretty."

"Yeah, that's Noah," Charlie says, shaking his head a little. "Where were you running off to, huh?"

Layla giggles and turns back around. "Did you bring apples?"

"Yes, but you don't get to have any if you don't answer Charlie's question," Noah answers. He might not have a clue who Layla is or why she's in Charlie's apartment, but he knows how kids this age work: give them an inch, they take a mile, and you end up on the bad side of whoever's taking care of them. "Where were you going when you found me?"

"To find you," Layla says, laughing like it's the funniest joke in the world. Noah raises an eyebrow at Charlie, who shrugs kind of helplessly, gobsmacked expression firmly back in place.

"Okay," Noah says. "You found me. Now what?"

"Apples," Layla shouts, and this particular brand of wiggling around means _put me down_ , so Noah does. She runs towards Charlie's kitchen. "Come on!"

"She lives across the hall with her parents," Charlie supplies as they follow, much more slowly. "Mom's at work, and Dad had to run to the grocery store. Apparently she can't be trusted not to open packs of cookies and eat them while she's in the cart, so Von asked if I'd watch her for a little while."

"Well, we can't have cookie-eating," Noah says as they walk into the kitchen. "That would be the worst."

Layla blinks innocently up at him. "But we can have apples?"

"We can have apples," Charlie confirms, navigating past Noah to pull a cutting board and knife out of their places. Noah hands over the bag, and Charlie makes quick work of washing the apples and cutting one into neat slices. He serves Layla a small plate before gesturing at the remaining apples. "Hungry?" he asks Noah.

"Sure, I'll have an apple," Noah says. "Thank you, Charlie."

Charlie coughs into his sleeve, probably to hide his smile at how overly polite Noah's being. Noah smirks a moment later, though, because Layla pipes up. "Thank you for cutting up my apple, Charlie! And Noah, thank you for bringing me my apple!"

"You're very welcome," Noah says, smiling at her.

"May I please have a cup of water?" Layla asks, smiling back. "To go with my apples!"

"You sure can," Charlie replies, turning up the charm as he sets Noah's sliced-up apple on the counter. "Her sippy cup is in the dish rack, Noah. Can you fill it up for her?"

"I would love to," Noah replies, moving past Charlie to get the cup from the drying rack. He fills it up and screws the lid on before setting it in front of Layla. "I like your _Finding Dory_ cup. Did you see the movie?"

"Yes!" Layla exclaims, launching into a retelling of the movie between shoving bits of apple into her mouth. It's a little gross, honestly, but kids in general are a little gross, and Layla's super enthusiastic about it. She finishes up her apples and bounces out of her chair. "I brought the Nemo VVD," she announces. "We can watch it!"

"D-V-D," Charlie corrects absently, snagging his phone off the counter and glancing at it. "Uh, sure, if Noah wants to, we can put it in. It looks like your dad is having trouble finding…" Charlie trails off and frowns at his phone. "Asparagus?"

Layla giggles. "Mommy loves 'sparagus," she confides. "Daddy said he wants to make it 'cause Mommy had to work on a weekend and 'sparagus will turn that frown upside down!"

"Let's watch _Finding Nemo_ until he gets back, then," Noah says. He can put leg day off until later. Or tomorrow. It's fine; he had an apple.

Layla leads them into the living room and rummages around in a giant _Cars_ bag for a few minutes before triumphantly emerging with the DVD case in hand. "Nemo!" she announces, handing the case to Charlie before tugging Noah over to the sofa and crawling into his lap. "Watch," she insists as Charlie puts the DVD in. "Nemo gets _fishnapped_ , and then Dory helps Marlin find him. And then in _Finding Dory_ there's the rocks, and they help Dory find her parents, too."

"Okay," Noah says agreeably. She settles firmly against his chest, and Noah's glad he had a bunch of practice with Gerbe's baby. Blake is for sure a lot younger than Layla, but Noah got pretty good at the whole "you're a comfortable place to nap" thing during his rookie season,

Sure enough, about fifteen minutes into the movie, Layla is sleeping quietly. Noah shifts a little, testing, but she just sighs and settles back against him. "Hey," he says quietly, turning to where Charlie's sitting in the recliner. To his surprise, Charlie's already looking at him. He's got that weird expression from earlier on his face. "What's with you?"

"Uh," Charlie says, voice normal, and Noah frowns and puts a finger to his lips. Charlie blinks a few times, then smiles crookedly, lowering his voice. "Nothing. It's just…"

"Just what?" Noah prompts.

"It's cute, you and her," Charlie mumbles, looking away. There's color high up on his cheeks. "You, uh. You ever think about it? Having kids?"

Noah looks down at Layla mostly so Charlie can't see how red he's definitely turning. It's not something that's come up between them before; they really only got together after Noah was drafted and signed, once Charlie was sure that Noah possibly getting outed couldn't prevent that from happening. "Yeah," he says, shrugging a little. "Not yet, I mean, but in the future, definitely."

"Yeah?" Charlie says. He sounds so hopeful, and Noah has to look up and smile at him.

"Not until after my ELC, after I get my next deal," he says. "But after that… we should talk about it."

Charlie's smile takes over his whole face. "Noah."

"Noah," Layla echoes sleepily, patting him on the arm. "Shhhhhh."

Noah has to bite his lip to keep from cracking up, but really, it's too priceless. Charlie actually gets up and walks down the hall, and Noah can hear him laughing in the bedroom, the traitor.

"Tell Charlie shhhh too," Layla mumbles. "I'm _sleeping_ , Noah."

She's clearly not anymore, wriggling around and smiling against his chest, but Noah nods and hugs her carefully anyway. "I'll tell him," he says. "Hey, Layla?"

Layla stays quiet and still on his chest for a moment, clearly contemplating whether to give up the ruse or not. Finally, she makes a show out of yawning and stretching before looking up at him. "What?"

"I'm glad I came over and met you," he says, smiling at her.

Layla beams up at him. "Me too!"

"Good," he says, shifting a little so she can get down easily. "Hey, Charlie went back into the bedroom. Wanna go find him?"

"Yeah!" Layla shouts, and then she's off, yelling Charlie's name as she runs down the hall.

Yeah, Noah thinks as he watches Charlie step out of the bedroom and scoop a laughing Layla into his arms. He's not ready yet, but someday, this is exactly what he wants.

**Author's Note:**

> -i'd just like to state for the record that i wrote a whole bunch of stuff about finding dory, then realised that the DVD wasn't out over the summer, because that's when the movie was in theatres, so i changed the DVD to finding nemo. disney accuracy is key.


End file.
